A great novel-in-verse showing the loss, grief, and trauma Bea faces after there is a school shooting. Bea is traumatized and doesn’t want to talk about it, and so her mom suggests Therapeutic horseback riding. Her life is good, if not perfect, before a shooter enters her private school, kills several people, and changes everything in her life forever. She grieves and feels helpless. Her mother wisely finds a wonderful way to cope. A perfect read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

As someone who educates kids and whose school shares a campus /was next door to MSD in 2018, gun violence is not a topic I can ignore. This middle grade book centered around a 13 year old with cerebral palsy highlights that when we are told to do these drills, kids with disabilities are not considered. Which is a shame because there is so much going on from both the adult (teacher ‘s perspective) versus the student’s. Teachers are told where the “safe space “ aka no windows / doors nearby are located yet this doesn’t shed any assistance on how to make that accommodation necessary for those with disabilities. Although the actual violence is minimally noted, it still made me react with silent tears. No one should have to experience violence at a young age. I appreciated the use of equine therapy as an outlet for Bea. I have been a volunteer helping adults with disabilities using horses to engage them so this was a great addition. I just wish there was a tad more character development / backstory explanation on some of the side characters / how did Max end up with Bea post birth & I think the in verse format while wonderfully accessible stunted that a tad.

I hate that school shootings exist. Hate that we value gun access more than the lives of innocent littles. Reading this book was bitter sweet. It helps people see a school shooting from a survivor’s lens. It focuses on the innocent victims more than people seeking fame through others pain.

Beatrix is a young girl with cerebral palsy who attends a private school. Her world is rocked when a shooter attacks her school and five people die. Told through a series of letters in verse, “Please Pay Attention” grabs you and pulls you into a world no one wants to visit. Your heart aches for Bea and Max.

Solid writing. Inspired by a true event in Tennessee. May we change the things we can to protect the innocent.

Thank you to Jamie Sumner, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC. All thought and feelings are my own.

This is a definite add if I get another chance to teach minority history. Our protagonist - a sixth grader who uses a wheelchair - experiences a school shooting. To the people complaining that this is "too heavy" for a middle grade students or that they are "too young" to write to the governor - you are obviously far removed from children this age. They, and younger ones, go through active shooter drills regularly. And they think about what to do. This is already on their radar. Also, was I the only one who had to write letters to my representatives in school? I remember doing so in elementary school in the 1980s.

This view of someone in a wheelchair is so important! As a teacher who has run those active shooter drills, the police are ALWAYS stunned with the question of what to do with our people with mobility issues. Their inevitable answer - you have to leave them to save yourself and the other kids. No teacher I know is satisfied with that response.

I am a fan of the novel in verse, and it is especially good for this topic. Definitely will recommend this to those who liked Me: Moth if they will be good with the younger subject. Because the topic is heavier, this is one of those middle grade novels that works older as well, especially for the quickness of the read. Pick it up!

Bea is a 5th grader with Cerebral Palsey who uses a wheelchair to get around. She goes to a private Christian school that falls victim to a school shooting. This novel in verse covers the lead up to the shooting, how Bea and her community handle the aftermath of the shooting, and a little bit about life with Cerebral Palsey.

As a lifelong wheelchair user, I'm so glad this book exists! This is a great read for both disabled and able bodied Middle grade kids. It's also a great read for adults. I like that it doesn't shy away from some of the difficulties of being a wheelchair user and navigating in a world that isn't built for folks like us. All of the characters are extremely likeable and the plot moves at a decent clip, so it's a quick, albeit heavy, read. The topics are discussed in an engaging way that I think will help kids tremendously. The serious moments are balanced out with some comic relief from our main character. I highly recommend this for both Middle grade as well as adult readers.

My thanks to Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, the author, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

A powerful and moving middle grade novel in verse about gun violence, disability, trauma, and horse therapy. Bea, a main character who has CP and rolls in a wheelchair, shares her life story before and after a school shooting in a captivating narrative. After it happens, Bea can’t forget that she was the only student who couldn’t take cover, all because of her wheelchair. Now she can’t sleep because of nightmares, and she doesn’t want to go to back to school. Her mom puts Bea in her horse therapy which helps Bea begin the slow process of recovery and healing. I loved every second of this heartfelt, important story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

This was heavy and powerful and left me sitting in a reflective state of contemplation.

I think this is such a necessary book that is going to have a profound impact on each reader. I appreciate the vulnerability of tackling this topic and hope it finds as many people as possible to touch too.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. This is an important read for this generation of students. The characters are relatable and present a perspective that isn't often heard.

I'm not quite sure how to review this one given the nature of the content. This was a truly challenging read, and while I appreciate the care Jamie Sumner took in writing this book, I had a hard time getting through it. That is not to say that I don't think this book is important or well written. It is and it was.

What I most appreciated about this book:
- The character development: For such a short book, Sumner successfully introduces a whole cast of lovable characters whom I immediately cared about.
- The protagonist perspective: I'm so grateful to Jamie Sumner for providing the perspective of a disabled protagonist, specifically as she experiences an emergency that requires her to flee or take cover. Too often, non-disabled people fail to consider how situations can be experienced in a completely different way by disabled individuals, and Please Pay Attention highlights this within the context of a school shooting.
- The call for empathy: Much of the narrative is written as a missive to local governance asking for more protection against school shootings. Some of these moments were absolutely heart-wrenching, particularly when the protagonist pauses the narrative to call on adults to consider how they would feel in a given situation (e.g. trying to find their own children in the aftermath of a shooting).

CW: school shooting, gun violence, death

Thank you to Atheneum Books and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Please Pay Attention by Jamie Sumner is a beautifully crafted work. This work portrays the raw realities of a school shooting as well as the after effects of such a tragic event. The narrator is Bea, a sixth grader with cerebral palsy forcing her to navigate the world from a wheelchair. She speaks honestly and powerfully offering an overlooked perspective.in most stories. This is an eye opening prescriptive discusses the shortfalls of schools, safety protocols, and societal views of such events and individuals.
I highly recommend this work!

The main character is a 6th grader with cerebral palsy that is wheelchair bound. She experiences a school shooting where her teacher and some other younger students are killed. Her mom is the school nurse, so they have to learn how to cope with this grief together. It is a beautifully written novel in verse that I would recommend for grades 4 and up.

Incredibly powerful novel-in-verse written from the point of view of a late elementary school student who survives a school shooting! The subtle, but necessary changes in time across sections of the book are easy to access for middle-grade readers and the tragedy is written in a clear, but careful manner appropriate for the intended age range. A story of death, grief, growth, and the wide variety of emotions the main character rides before and after the horrible, fateful day at her school, this is one not to be missed.

Well written, well thought out, and moving, "Please Pay Attention" is far less depressing than it has any right to be. The subject matter is dreadful, important and terrifying, but the characters at the center of this novel are solid, supportive and sensitive. I expected to be heartbroken, but I finished the novel hopeful, and engaged, which I think means the author achieved their purpose.

This is one of the most gorgeous novels in verse I have ever read. It was heart wrenching my beautiful and an incredible story.

content warnings: school shooting, grief, ableism

there is a before and after for bea coughlin, an eighth grader with cerebral palsy. before the school shooting that took the lives of her teacher and classmates, and after, when she has to figure out how to keep going. as she learns to heal from this traumatic event, she finds the bravery to demand change.

with how prevalent school shootings, and discussion around them, are, many of our discussions leave out disabled people. this is true for other emergencies, too; there are almost never solid plans to get disabled people to safety should a fire or severe weather happen. this is something bea reflects on a lot throughout this book. as a wheelchair user, she felt helpless during lockdown, when her classmates were taking cover and she needed help. when she finds equine therapy, she begins to find the courage to speak up against school shootings and how disabled people are often disregarded in our society. this was a novel in verse, and i thought that was a great choice. bea had a lovely voice. i highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very quick read. It only took me a day. This was a very emotional book and does involve a school shooting so it won’t be for everyone but it is so well written. You become very attached to the characters and you want everything to turn out ok for them. Even though you know it won’t. Not for everyone. The author does a fantastic job describing the scene and what the main character is feeling. The emotions are high and the feelings are raw. It is a tough book to read at times but it is also worth it.

If all the adults who needed to read this did, and then effected the change that is entirely within their power to make, we would never need another book like this. In the meantime, shamefully, there are tens of thousands of children in the US (more?) who will benefit from this story, having in common with our heroine the history of surviving a school shooting—something no child should ever need to face. This is what we call a preventable problem. Aren’t there enough things that are out of our control in this world already? I read this story with an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and a deep appreciation for Sumner’s gift: her ability to write through her own grief, crafting a moving and compelling story that is also a necessary call to action.

Thank you for this ARC.
The challenges and emotions are strong in this graphic novel. Bea is the main character, living her life in school and then a shooting takes place. You have to be of this age to fully make the connection that matters. I would definitely recommend this to middle school and high school students. This is a deep book where the writer knocks down walls and makes us, the reader have these open conversations.

Disclaimer: I received an e-arc of this book. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Please Pay Attention

Author: Jamie Sumner

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: Cerebral Palsey MC who uses a wheelchair, Other disabled characters, MC has a Guardian, Gay couple characters

Recommended For...: Middle Grade Readers, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Poetry, Disability, School Shooting, Grief, PTSD

Publication Date: April 15, 2025

Genre: MG Contemporary

Age Relevance: 12+ (school shooting, vague HP reference, lots of Christianity, parental death mentioned, death, blood gore, grief, PTSD)

Explanation of CWs: The book revolves around the before, during, and aftermath of a school shooting from the perspective of a child. The school is Christian and there are a lot of mentions about Christianity. Parental death is mentioned in one comment. There is blood gore and death shown and mentioned in the book. There are scenes revolving around grief and PTSD.

If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Only the Young

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Pages: 240

Synopsis: There is a Before and an After for eighth grader Bea Coughlin. Before the shooting at her school that took the lives of her classmates and teacher and After, when she must figure out how to grieve, live, and keep rolling forward. But as her community rallies in a tidal wave of marches and speeches and protests, Bea can’t get past the helplessness she felt in her wheelchair as others around her took cover. Through the help of therapeutic horseback riding, Bea finally begins to feel like herself again. And as she heals, she finds her voice and the bravery to demand change.

Review: Overall, I thought that the book was really well done. I loved that the book was from the perspective of a child but also I think that making the main character disabled added another context to the story, like a look into how much more difficult navigating a school shooting is when you're disabled. I did like the little mentions about how inaccessible the world was to the MC especially after the shooting. Everything from not being able to use the stairs and having to wait for the elevator while in the middle of the scene, to being pushed by an officer who also refuses to listen to her about what she needs, and to even having to figure out how to hide while in a wheelchair, whether that be throwing herself out of the chair and crawling or making do with what she can. I also liked that this book was written for the author's friend who was the head of The Covenant School in Nashville before she was killed during a school shooting, I thought this was a very touching tribute to them and other school shooting victims. I liked the story overall, I liked that the book had a lot of action steps for protesting and therapy and I really liked that there wasn't a preachy message from a religious perspective about the event. I lastly think this is the type of media that might help build up a generation that will stand against easily allowing school shootings.

The only things that I knock the book for is the one vague HP reference that wasn't needed in today's works and that I thought the book was a bit hard to read in a couple of places, but that last bit is more of a knock on me because I struggle with verse-told books.

Verdict: It was really good! I recommend it.

Please Pay Attention hits you like a ton of bricks. It’s a profound novel-in-verse that makes you look beyond the “typical” student experience during a school shooting.

The story unfolds from Lucy’s first-person point of view. Born with cerebral palsy, Lucy uses a wheelchair. It’s something that already makes her different, and when the shooting happens, she can’t get down when the rest of the class huddled on the floor. After, she can’t let go of the moment, can’t let go of her teacher’s death, can’t let go of not being there for the “little” from kindergarten that she mentors.

Please Pay Attention is loosely based on the shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville in early 2023. Author Jamie Sumner was friends with the head of school there who was killed. Please Pay Attention is Sumner’s call to action.

Sumner’s respectful treatment of the subject is heartfelt and thoughtful. While not gratuitous, she does not shy away from the actual shooting. In the moment, Sumner focuses on the fear, confusion and desperation to find loved ones. Later, those feelings shift to profound sadness, anxiety and anger. And through it all is a calming layer of hope that helps pull readers through Lucy’s experience.

Please Pay Attention is a quick read — I finished it in a few hours. It’s a story of empathy and resiliency and it’s a book that I wish never had to be written. As a mom, it both broke my heart and made me angry. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful and necessary read.